6|2001 S.B., Ocean Engineering with a minor in Music from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA

AnnMarie Thomas, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the School of Engineering and the Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas. She is the founder and director of the Playful Learning Lab, which explores ways to encourage children, of all ages, to embrace playful learning. She and her students created Squishy Circuits. She is the author of "Making Makers: Kids, Tools, and the Future of Innovation."

AnnMarie co-founded and co-direct the University of St. Thomas Center for Engineering Education (CEE), which offers engineering courses for P-12 educators and conduct research on engineering at the pre-collegiate level. AnnMarie's teaching covers classes on topics such as Engineering Graphics and Design, Machine Design, Dynamics (with Circus Lab), Toy Design, Product Design for an Aging Population, Technology Prototyping (for Business majors), Environmental Sustainability/Innovation and Brain Machine Interfaces (seminar).

She served as the Founding Executive Director of the Maker Education Initiative, where her team established the national Maker Corps program and laid the groundwork for this nonprofit.